Welcome! It’s with great joy that we bring you the sixth issue ofAgora. Spring comes like a whirlwind each year: throughout a semester of busyness and endless deadlines, we witness the seasons change from brutal cold to hopeful warmth, then just like that, school breaks for summer. It’s with awe and great relief that we present this journal to you — God has shown his faithfulness time and time again in providing for Agora.

We’ve been blessed to see Agora evolve over the past three years, as God brings new staff and new visions into our body. This semester is a special one, as we (Olivia and Sean) gift you this issue asAgora’s old and new editors-in-chief. For me (Olivia), this is a truly sweet goodbye and a final love letter to you, and for me (Sean), it is a foretaste of the exciting things to come.

As a journal of Christian thought, these pages serve as a medium to convey experiences and grace. We discover, here, a raw distillation of thought and emotion through words and images. And so, it is with great pleasure that we would like to introduce the theme of this semester: Ink.

Ink is used to record, to remember, to express. It persists beyond time and human fickleness, allowing us to see glimpses of who we used to be and how we have changed. Its permanence echoes the stain of everpresent sin, resistant to our efforts to erase it. At the same time, ink embodies the steadfastness of God’s word, which forms the foundation of our faith throughout eternity.

Through the metaphor of ink, our writers have crystalized the stories they hold and the marks they bear, offering up an interpretation of what Ink means to them. Every piece is unique, a reflection of the author’s varying walks in faith, but they all come together to testify of God’s grace in our lives.

So, as you flip through these pages, we invite you to take a moment of rest. We hope these pieces bring comfort and peace, questions and resolutions to the ways He is moving in your life. We humbly present these works as an offering to you, dear Reader, for you too are an artwork of the greatest Creator of all. May grace and blessings be with you!

Yours in Christ,
Olivia and Sean